A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to processing signal strength information received from a radio frequency transmitter. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for processing signal strength information and position information to determine signal coverage.
B. Description of the Related Art
A wireless device, such as a mobile phone, a radio, or a television, must be capable of receiving a signal to operate effectively. In the case of mobile phones, wireless service providers measure power for the signal at various locations and then estimate whether the signal can be received in one or more geographic areas, such as cells or microcells. The wireless service provider may then adjust the power of the transmitter of the signal such that the mobile phones can receive the signal within the one or more geographic areas. This process helps ensure that the wireless device can receive the signal and thus operate effectively.
Past approaches to the process of estimating signal strength within a geographic area provided poor estimates. That is, these estimates varied greatly within an area, forcing the wireless service provider to provide unnecessary extra transmitter power to account for the variations in the estimates. If a wireless service provider fails to add extra transmitter power, a user of the mobile phone may be able to receive the signal in some geographic areas but suffer a service interruption in other geographic areas because the signal may be too weak. However, increasing power at a transmitter may increase operating costs. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for determining estimates of signal coverage with less variability, permitting wireless service providers to precisely provide power to an area.